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Corporations have no business appealing to religious exemptions. I have no problem with religious organizations receiving the same tax benefits as other not-for-profit organizations, but businesses should not have the right to use religious arguments to get out of a federally mandated requirement.

If corporations have been deemed individuals for purposes of political contributions, and they have, you’d better believe they’ll be deemed individuals for this purpose so there will be no toehold for all those lovely contribution dollars to go away. Integrity? Meh.

Corporations are considered to be “individuals” or “persons” for taxation purposes, depending upon the jurisdiction. Furthermore, corporations are also subject to laws covering criminal or civil wrongdoings. Officers of corporations who commit criminal acts can be charged as acting on behalf of such corporations. An individual or family owned corporation is basically an extension of those individuals. If they can be held responsible for the actions of their corporations, including the payment of taxes and being the moral and ethical voice of their corporations, then they should have the right as well as the responsibility, within the constitution and other laws, to run their corporation according to their own beliefs, religious or otherwise.

Incorporation allows the shareholder “limited” liability for the debts of the corporation. Thus if an incorporated business fails and cannot meet its debts owing to suppliers and other creditors, the individual shareholder is not liable. This freedom from liability does not extend to actions of the corporation that could be considered criminal and does not necessarily extend to any other civil “damage” claims.

Of course, a corporation cannot have “religious convictions” by itself, but those who own, direct and work for that corporation do and are the ones responsible for determining the moral and ethical direction of the corporation’s actions. In a closely held corporation, that is the shareholders who are usually also the officers and primary employees.

Why can’t such issues be discussed without resort to insults and attacks on the beliefs of others?

About Jim Morin

Jim Morin’s drawings won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1996. He shared the Pulitzer in 1983 with other members of the Miami Herald editorial board, and was a Pulitzer finalist in 1977 and 1990. His work is syndicated internationally by the New York Times/CWS Syndicate.